Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity pdfdrive com

Higher-Tech Devices
Now you can dictate into computers as well as hand-write into them. As more
and more communication is morphed into digital and wireless formats, it will
become easier to capture ideas (with a corresponding increase in the amount of
data reaching us that we need to manage!).
“Computer!”
“Yes, David?”
“I need bread.”
“Yes, David.”
My needed grocery item has been 
collected
. And as the 
organizing
part of the
action-management process is further digitized, “bread” will automatically be
added to my electronic grocery list, and maybe even ordered and delivered.

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Whether high-tech or low-tech, all of the tools described above serve as similar
in-baskets, capturing potentially useful information, commitments, and
agreements for action. You’re probably already using some version of most of
them.

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The Collection Success Factors
Unfortunately, merely having an in-basket doesn’t make it functional. Most
people 
do
have collection devices of some sort, but usually they’re more or less
out of control. Let’s examine the three requirements to make the collection phase
work: 1. | Every open loop must be in your collection system and out of your
head.
2. | You must have as few collection buckets as you
can get by with.
3. | You must empty them regularly.
Get It All Out of Your Head
If you’re still trying to keep track of too many things in your RAM, you likely
won’t be motivated to use and empty your in-baskets with integrity. Most people
are relatively careless about these tools because they know they don’t represent
discrete, whole systems anyway: there’s an incomplete set of things in their in-
basket and an incomplete set in their mind, and they’re not getting any payoff
from either one, so their thinking goes. It’s like trying to play pin-ball on a
machine that has big holes in the table, so the balls keep falling out: there’s little
motivation to keep playing the game.
These collection tools should become part of your life-style. Keep them close
by so no matter where you are you can collect a potentially valuable thought—
think of them as being as indispensable as your toothbrush or your driver’s
license or your glasses.